I am sending this letter to Ben Nelson and if you're a Nebraskan you should too.

Don't support the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act

I am writing to you today as a constituent and informing you that, should you support the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), I will push against your reelection in November.  The legislation is overly broad and violates the rights of every American, while failing to intelligently update the National Security Act of 1947.

The legislation would create an exception to privacy laws allowing companies to share private and personal data for “cyber security” reasons, but there aren’t restrictions as to who can use the information and how it can be used.  The language is overly broad and not focused enough on the purpose it claims to have.

Private communications and actions will be flowing from the private sector to government organizations like the NSA regardless of if they’re an actual threat or completely legal and benign.  This could lead to innocent individuals being targeted for doing nothing more than surfing the web, placing the wrong word in an email or text message, or searching for a phrase that someone, somewhere in the new chain of invisible recipients, might find threatening to their affairs. This bill is blatantly Draconian, and does not represent the interests of the vast majority of American citizens, let alone those whose interests you've vowed to serve.

The amount of data that would flow from private companies to the government would be immense, including innocent and private information.  Outside of cases for which there are already wiretap laws in place, the government has no need to know what websites I visit, or how many hours I play on my Xbox.

I reiterate that your support of this bill will in no way be a service to your constituents, that your support of it will be indication enough of your future inability (or unwillingness) to defend the freedoms of Nebraskans, and that a vote in favor of it will move me to vote against you in future elections, encouraging all of my friends to do the same.

Email Ben Nelson
Email Mike Johanns